12 Dec Parker collaborates with Danish start-up

Parker has joined forces with the Danish start-up Tomorrow to develop and test a new service which enables electric vehicles to charge when electricity CO2 emissions are lowest – reducing the carbon footprint of electric vehicles even further.

The aim of Parker is to demonstrate modern electric vehicles’ ability to support and balance a power system based on renewable energy. To do so, Parker is testing a wide range of new and existing grid services to examine how electric vehicles can best contribute to balancing the power system.

One of these services is to provide vehicle owners with the opportunity to charge electric vehicles when the CO2 emissions of their local energy providers are at its lowest. This work is carried out in collaboration with the Danish start-up Tomorrow and students at the Technical University of Denmark.

Electric vehicles receive CO2 signals

Tomorrow is a data company which among other things have developed the Electricity Map, (electricitymap.org) which gathers real-time data from local energy providers and computes an overview of where your electricity comes from and how much CO2 is emitted to produce it.

Furthermore, they have developed a CO2 signal that enables connected devices, such as electric vehicles, to use electricity when CO2 emissions are lowest. This CO2 signal is applied by Parker to control charging of electric vehicles, developing a service, which potentially can provide future electric vehicle owners with an opportunity to minimize their carbon footprints even further.

Integrating data and engaging the driver

For the vehicles to charge in accordance with CO2 emissions, hourly forecasts are computed by Tomorrow several days in advance and sent to the vehicles. The vehicles will then react to the data provided and adjust charging patterns in accordance with the predicted CO2 emissions.

Besides demonstrating that electric vehicles across brands will be able to provide this service, the project will also support the development of a user-friendly interface which will be applied by the vehicle owners to get insights into their CO2 emissions.